Manila home burns to the ground

A Manila home on Ward Street burned to the ground Monday morning. The house fire was a total property loss, but nobody was seriously injured, officials said.

"It was a big fire," said Arcata Fire Chief John McFarland said. "We had maximum response; everything was perfect, except the house was on the ground when we got there."

Arcata Fire District personnel responded to a house in the 1900 block of Ward Street in Manila after receiving reports of a residential structure fire with a person trapped and power lines down. Firefighters arrived and found the structure completely involved and three neighboring residences beginning to ignite, according to a press release.

The first arriving officers received a report of a man down in the backyard. Arcata firefighters and Humboldt Bay firefighters began a defensive fire attack while simultaneously rescuing the man in the backyard. The man was evaluated by paramedics, but he refused medical care. Firefighters were able to stop the fire spread to all but one of the exposed residences, the release said.

Firefighters contained the fire in about 30 minutes and confirmed that the house was not occupied when the fire started. The homeowner arrived after seeing the large fire from the downtown Arcata area. The owner confirmed nobody else was in the home.

"This fire was very advanced when firefighters first arrived," said Arcata Fire Battalion Chief Sean Campbell in a statement. "There was fire blowing out of every door and window, and three other occupancies were beginning to ignite. Firefighters did a great job helping the man trapped in the backyard and stopping the spread of fire."

One firefighter was overcome with exhaustion while battling the blaze, the release said. He was treated at the scene, and returned to work.

The home had previously been heavily damaged in a 2008 fire. The rapid spread of the fire can be attributed to a lack in fire resistive materials such as sheetrock, the release said. The owners told firefighters they used cardboard to patch the walls damaged in the 2008 fire because that was all they could afford.

The family who lived in the home was provided with a hotel room by the Red Cross, Humboldt County Red Cross Executive Director Barbara Caldwell said in an email. Handmade quilts were also donated by the Redwood Empire Quilters Guild, she said.

Campbell said the cause of the fire is still under investigation, although the owner of the home "feels strongly that this fire was caused by an electrical failure." The owner reportedly had numerous extension cords and circuit strips around the home, and some were overloaded.

"The structures electrical system was damaged in the 2008 fire, and the occupants had to get power from a neighbor's system in order to live in the house," Campbell said.